“Not to run around outside naked?” Miles smirks.
“I wasn’t…we weren’t…” I sit down on my old leather sofa and drop my face to my hands. “This is my punishment.”
Sam sits beside me and gently pulls my hands away from my face. “Punishment? For what?”
“For you!” I look at him and his face falls. “For what I did.”
Sebastian quickly chimes in. “What Lucy’s trying to say is that she knew there would be consequences for leaving her old boring life behind, but that you’re totally worth it.” He cuts his eyes at me and raises his dark eyebrows. “Right, Lucy?”
“Of course,” I say to Sam. “Of course you are.”
“Are you sure?” Sam asks, raising an eyebrow with worried amusement. “Because you seem pretty upset.”
“I am upset. I’m very upset. I’m humiliated.”
Sam’s face softens again. “I know.” He drops his chin and I see the guilt on his face.
“It’s not your fault, Sam.”
“Guys, look, I’m doing everything I can to get it taken down, at least from some of the smaller sites.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s out there now. For the whole world to see.” I groan.
“Lucy, it’s going to be fine,” Bas says calmly. “There are literally topless pictures of Kate Middleton on the internet. And the whole world still loves her.”
“Last I checked, I’m not royalty.”
“You’re my queen,” Sam says, trying to lighten the mood, and I flash him a fleeting smile.
“Have you checked your email lately, Bas?”
“Not in the last hour. Why?”
“Oh, just waiting for Aurelia Snow to rescind my invite to her show.” I throw my hands up. “There goes my career.”
“The exhibit in New York? You got an invite?” Sam asks eagerly.
I give him a small smile and bob my head. “Yeah. I did. And I got invites to six other exhibits too.”
“Lucy, that’s incredible.” He pulls me into a hug. “I knew everyone would want your paintings once they saw how talented you are.” He releases me and says, “I’m so proud of you.”
“We’ll see how many still want them now.”
“Lucy, this will die down in a couple of days,” Miles says. “If you want, we can put a statement out, address the violation of privacy. That can go a long way sometimes.”
“It can also bring more attention to it,” Sam argues.
“No, no statement,” I say, shaking my head. “Sam’s right. I don’t want to bring any more attention to it.” I sigh and stand up. “I should have known better.”
“I should have known better,” Sam says. He looks at me like there’s no one else in the room. “I’m so sorry, Lamb.”
“It’s okay.” I smile softly and try to convince myself that my art will speak louder than these junk sites that posted my picture. But only time will tell.
Chapter 5
Sam
I watch the orange glow of the rising sun peek through the high-rise buildings outside the bedroom window, careful not to wake Lucy, who’s sleeping peacefully on my chest. I brush the blond hair off her forehead and stare at her beautiful face, trying to memorize the shape of her nose and the curve of her lips. I run my hand over her shoulder—tan from spending the better part of a month in Exuma—and pray that I get to spend every day of the rest of my life waking up like this.
She sighs and wraps her arm around me. “Good morning,” she mumbles.
“Morning.”
She opens her sleepy eyes. “What time is it?”
“Seven.”
“Is there a reason you’re awake?”
“I wanted to watch the sunrise.”
“Now that you’ve seen it, can we go back to sleep?”
“Not that sun.”
She smiles wide and closes her eyes. “I love you.”
“I’m still waiting.”
She laughs and opens her eyes, flashing their brilliant blue that rivals the color of the sky outside.
I tilt her chin up and kiss her, and she moans softly, waking up any parts of me that were still asleep. I sit up and pull her on top of me and gaze into her sleepy eyes, which fill with desire I know all too well now. “Hi.”
She parts her lips and inhales a slow breath, drawing my mouth to hers like a moth to a flame. “Hi,” she says against my lips.
Sam, Fifteen Years Old
“Stop it!” Lucy warns, peering at me over the roof of the car she’s hiding behind in the grocery store parking lot.
I smile as I creep around another car parked a few spots away. “Or what?” I challenge, dropping my backpack and leaping over the hood.
She runs between another row of cars, giggling as I get closer. “Sam, stop!” she squeals, pulling her arm out of my grip. “Get away!” She laughs, running a little farther, until she’s off the pavement and on the sparse grass that covers a path to the adjacent park. As soon as she’s on soft ground, she takes off like a bolt of lightning, backpack and all.
I go pick up my backpack and run even faster.
I catch up to her quickly, chasing her onto the empty playground, but she hides behind a rusty old merry-go-round. She wraps her small hands around the peeling red handlebars and crouches down in the dust as I make my way over to her. She watches me with excited eyes as I step up onto the merry-go-round, which creaks under my weight.
“Ahh,” she squeals, giving it a pull and sending me for short ride, before I leap off it and chase her over to the swings.
She holds one of the rubber swing seats in her hands, and the chains clink together as she backs away from me. “I’m going to let go,” she warns, but I step closer to her anyway. She lets go and the swing flies through the air at me, but I dodge it and chase her over to the slide.
She runs up the metal and I wait by the steps, but when she peers down and sees me, she turns around and runs back down the slide, her sneakers squeaking on the slippery metal. When she’s about halfway down, she sits and slides the rest of the way.
I make it around to the end of the slide just in time to catch her. “Hi,” I say, leaning over, gripping the cold metal lip on either side of her.
She laughs and looks up at me. “Hi.” She starts to sit up, but I don’t move, so she lies down against the slide and smiles up at me.
“You can try to run from me, but I’ll always catch you.”
She laughs and wriggles her legs between mine, but I don’t move. Her chest rises and falls inside her jacket as she gazes up at me and her creamy white skin flushes pink. “Promise?”
I stare at her pale blue eyes, nearly colorless from the bright sun shining down on us. I watch her parted lips move when she draws in a breath, wanting so badly to know what they taste like, and my heart races inside my chest, even faster than when I was chasing her. I lean in closer, unable to resist the pull drawing my mouth to hers.
She closes her eyes and I press my lips firmly to hers. And everything falls away—the slide, the cars in the distance, the smell of the rusty playground. I reach for her face and hold it in my hand as my lips move over hers, pushing and pulling for several long seconds. I exhale a heavy breath, ignoring the way my body is screaming for more, and drop my forehead to hers.